Hillary Clinton’s shameful role in Benghazi

Why is it that in the last 40 years, the only American ambassadors to get murdered were when Democratic administrations were in office? Before Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed in Benghazi in 2012 on the evening of Sept. 11, the last American ambassador to be killed was Adolph Dubs during the Carter administration in February 1979, in Afghanistan. What accounts for the success of these outrageous attacks on American embassies by Islamic radicals? The movie, 13 Hours, a factual, non-politicized account of tragedy in Libya, is based on Mitchell Zuckoff’s book of the same name, and the movie provides plenty of answers.

The first and most important reason for these appalling murders of American ambassadors is that liberals and progressives are convinced that diplomacy always produces better result than military force. 13 Hours provides tragic example of what happens when the State Department directives trump the recommendations of the Defense Department. Americans die.

The Congressional report on Benghazi released several weeks ago reveals that, following a meeting at 5 p.m., which included President Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta issued an order to deploy military assets to Libya to save the beleaguered American compound. But no assets were ever sent. 13 Hours shows senior CIA operatives in Libya pleading with U.S. military commanders in the Mediterranean basin for air support and quick reaction teams that were ready to deploy. But none were ever sent.

According to Congressional sources, a platoon of Marines assigned to the Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team at Rota, Spain was held on the tarmac for six hours, as administration officials debated whether to send them in military uniforms or civilian clothes. If they went in military gear, it would apparently contradict President Obama’s boast that he had achieved success in Libya without the need of placing “boots on the ground.” Apparently, this debate between State and Defense Department officials about the clothing of American troops, was one of the reasons why U.S. assets were never sent, resulting in the death of two American heroes, Tyrone Woods and Mark Geist, nine hours after the initial attack on the Embassy, in which Ambassador Stevens and Specialist Sean Smith were killed.

Incredibly, President Obama was not present in the Situation Room as the nightlong fight progressed. The White House still refuses information requests about Obama’s whereabouts the night of Sept. 11, but it is known from the White House Log that three Democratic operatives visited the President to prep him for the upcoming presidential debate with Mitt Romney.

13 Hours shows how the fast approaching 2012 presidential election and the Obama administration’s need to show results in Libya resulted in disastrous decisions and disgraceful unprofessionalism by Hillary Clinton’s State Department and the CIA. The need to see the unfolding events in political terms and the concomitant refusal to understand the seriousness of the ferocious assault of hundreds of jihadists led to the tragic death of Ambassador Stevens and the three other Americans. The movie makes clear that Ambassador Stevens should have never even been in Benghazi – a diplomatic station that all other Western embassies had previously evacuated a for security reasons. The diplomatic outpost was woefully unprepared for a military assault. Shockingly, as the jihadist attack penetrated the Embassy compound, the CIA station chief refused permission for the CIA security contractors at the CIA annex a mile away to go to the aid of the Ambassador and his beleaguered staff. One watches the terrorists overrun the Embassy and the repeated assaults on the CIA annex with incredulity and then mounting anger, as Americans in harm’s way are abandoned by their leaders, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama.

The behavior of Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration in the aftermath of the attack in Benghazi was perhaps the most shameful act in the tragedy. At 10:08pm on the night of the attack, Clinton issued a public statement on Benghazi referring to inflammatory internet material [the You Tube video mocking Islam], which she suggested provided the impetus the attack. She repeated the point the next day at the State Department. In private, however, she called the president of Libya at 6:49 pm on the night of the attack to say that the attack was planned and that an Islamic group had claimed responsibility. Later that night, she emailed her daughter that “an Al-Qaeda-like group” was responsible. The next day she spoke in a phone call with the Egyptian Prime Minister emphasizing that the attack “had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack.” Then, on the Sunday morning following the attack, she had the U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice on the TV talk shows blame the attacks primarily on the You Tube video. It was a deliberate lie which Clinton surely helped to construct. Then, even more despicably, she repeated the You Tube suggestion to families of those killed in Benghazi, as their bodies lay on the tarmac

Shame and scandal on Hillary Clinton for Benghazi! How can Americans elect someone so totally untrustworthy to the highest office in the land?

Robert Bradley

Robert Bradley is an investment advisor and entrepreneur. The views expressed in this column are his own and not those of his investment management firm. Read his past columns here.